Starting a New Chapter & Advice

[al_z]

I need a little advice, from anyone willing to give it. I also apologize in advance for the long post (and if this is the wrong subforum...)

And, for the record, I'm spending 15-20 hours a week trying to get this off the ground (the other guys I've recruited are devoting a similar amount).

My school is a private university with ~1/3 of the campus being Greek.

A group of guys and myself (~25) are interested in starting a new chapter here at the university -- the majority of us rushed, but discovered the Greek system here is a bit questionable (some of the chapters are at risk for losing their charter, etc etc). The average fraternity on campus is approx. 60 guys, with the typical pledge class being ~15.

We have a cumulative gpa of roughly 3.5 (), and we're heavily involved on campus (student councils, radio station, researchers, varsity sports, scholarship winners, etc.), for context.

We reached out to a number of national fraternity organizations (NGLO is the term?) and have one that is willing to sponsor us (they've flown our representatives to talk with us -- leaving the specific organization out). We currently have colony approval from the nationals, a board of alumni (which is larger than the average fraternity's alumni board here), 25 interested committed guys (with another 20-30 who are planning on rushing), faculty advisors, and the support of a couple of the other fraternities on/off campus, as well as sororities.

But here's our issue: the university is slow. It's taken them roughly 4 years to add a sorority (given each has ~200 members, and the # of people rushing is going up every year), and the last fraternity that started here was started in the 1950s (aka, no one here in the university knows how this process works). The IFC constitution is from the 1980s and contradicts itself regularly on how colonies are supposed to start and gain recognition. Everything we do with the administration seems to lead nowhere (we've had multiple meetings, they've met with our nationals reps, and little progress has been made).

Without university recognition, we're not allowed to do anything. We're not allowed to hold meetings on campus, volunteer on campus, anything. It's really stalling anything we try to do.

There's also the issue of housing. We're currently operating out of a small off-campus apartment, but that's really not going to hold up for long.

So my questions (sorry for the long-winded post!) are as follows:
1) Do you have any recommendations for working with the university to try and expedite support/recognition? I'm racking my brain trying to come up with a way to get this going.
2) Would you recommend operating even w/o university recognition? (This would create liability for us, but if we acquired a house, would not be a terrible idea).
3) For housing, what's realistic? Should we try and purchase a house with a mortgage, or lease/rent?

Thanks for your time.